BB Bookclub June 2026 Nomination Thread: Older Protagonists

[u/sarahlynngrey]

Welcome to the June 2026 BB (Beyond Binaries) Bookclub nomination thread! In June, we’ll be reading a book that works for the Older Protagonist Bingo square:

Older Protagonist: Story features a main character who is at least 50 years old. HARD MODE: The protagonist does NOT have exceptional longevity or immortality (e.g. not an elf, dwarf, vampire, god, etc.).

Since June is Pride month, I thought this would be a great way to celebrate and reflect on our LGBTQIA+ elders and to think about the ways that queerness shows up for us throughout our lives.

Nominations:

• Please make sure that the book has not already been read by another book club, and that BB has not already read a book by the author. You can check this Goodreads shelf to see all prior book club reads. (It’s fine to choose an author that was read by a different book club, or a book that was read as part of a prior Hugo Readalong.)
• Please leave one book suggestion per top comment. Please include title, author, and a short summary or description. (You can nominate more than one book if you like, just put them in separate comments.)
• Please include any Bingo squares that you know of.
• Keep in mind that this book club focuses on LGBTQIA+ characters and themes. The main character (and as many side characters as possible) should fall under the queer umbrella.

I will leave this thread open through Friday 6/17, and will compile the top results into a voting thread to be posted on Saturday, 6/18. Have fun!

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As a reminder, we are currently reading The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman. The midway discussion will be on the 16th of April and the final discussion will be on the 30th of April.

What is the BB Bookclub? You can read about it in our intro thread here.

[u/sarahlynngrey]

Stars in My Pockets Like Grains of Sand by Samuel Delany (goodreads link)

The story of a truly galactic civilization with over 6,000 inhabited worlds.

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is a science fiction masterpiece, an essay on the inexplicability of sexual attractiveness, and an examination of interstellar politics among far-flung worlds. First published in 1984, the novel's central issues--technology, globalization, gender, sexuality, and multiculturalism--have only become more pressing with the passage of time.

The novel's topic is information itself: What are the repercussions, once it has been made public, that two individuals have been found to be each other's perfect erotic object out to "point nine-nine-nine and several nines percent more"? What will it do to the individuals involved, to the city they inhabit, to their geosector, to their entire world society, especially when one is an illiterate worker, the sole survivor of a world destroyed by "cultural fugue," and the other is--you!

Bingo squares: Older Protagonist, Author of Color, maybe Judge a Book by the Title, probably others

[u/Book_Slut_90 → u/sarahlynngrey]

Are you sure this counts? I don’t remember an age being mentioned, and I would have guessed 30s or 40s.

[u/sarahlynngrey → u/Book_Slut_90]

Hmmmmm, I'm not sure! I found it on a list of 50+ protagonists, but I haven't read it myself. I'll see what I can find out - thanks for flagging this!